It is the Mission of the Nebraska Family Forum (NFF) to promote education policies in our state that preserve and protect parental authority and the integrity of the family. In so doing, we will preserve the cooperative and respectful relationship between school authorities and parents, preserve a family-centered community, and provide a well-rounded education for our kids.

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Monday, March 27, 2017

The Payne Family:Lincoln Public Schools Continues Sending Sick Children to the County Attorney

What began as a normal school
year for my daughter quickly turned into a nightmare.My daughter began having stomachaches in
August and from August 2015 to November 2015 we ended up in the emergency room
on four occasions.Six weeks after
school started I had numerous phone visits with the school social worker and weekly
emails with an administrator as well as requesting homework for Hannah to work
on at home.(Little did we know at the
time that my daughter would be diagnosed with eosinophilic gastritis, a rare
disease and usually lifelong and subsequent diagnoses of polycystic ovary
syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and possible endometriosis.).In December we had a meeting at the school
with four personnel from school about a collaborative plan.At this time, Hannah had kept up with 6
of her 7 classes and was receiving A’s and B’s in herclasses.Clearly she was doing well even amidst the
absences.29 absences were acquired by
December 22nd and even though we had 20 M.D. notes between October
and January, we were referred to the County
Attorney for
truancy.

Our first court appearance
was in March 2016 where my daughter was placed on probation and given a court
appointed public defender. We had four
court dates we had to appear for between March and September 2016.My daughter was given a probation
officerwho “recommended” to the court
in May that my daughter go to summer school, see a psychologist weekly, and
have a tracker from Cedars.As part of
that recommendation this all became court ordered.Anytime my daughter was going to miss school
(which was weekly), I had to inform the probation officer.When my daughter was too ill to attend summer
school and acquired 5 absences she was declined from attending summer
school.The probation officer then
required my daughter to attend day reporting at Owens. I was very strongly opposed to this. It is a facility where troubled teens go to be
“monitored” Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.She was being mingled with teens that were
required to wear ankle monitors and talked about smoking, illicit behaviors,
etc.Only 6 absences before you are
dropped from the program and my daughter due to her illness missed that many
days and was not allowed to attend.The
next thing that was suggested was that she apply for a job to stay busy and
stay out of trouble and so they would “know where she was.”Are you kidding me?My daughter could not attend summer school
due to illness, how was she going to hold down a job?

The probation officer, the
judge, the county attorney and day reporting personnel all treated my daughter
like she was a “bad student,” “troubled teen.”For a young girl what message
does this send?If I was this stressed
about this entire situation, just imagine the stress my daughter was placed in
which I believe only exacerbated her illness.The probation officer was suspicious of her from day one.She left us on the defensive all the
time.The County attorney would glare at
us in court hearings.The Owens Day
intake reporter and leader was somewhat crude in his explanations, using slang,
and asking my daughter all sorts of questions encompassing behaviors my
daughter has never engaged in.

In June 2016, I emailed the
probation officer stating this was all wrong and that my daughter was not
skipping school nor was she a bad person running around doing illicit
behaviors, she was home ill and bedridden.

From June to October 2016, we
averaged two appointments per week between seeing a physician and
psychologist.For the first month of the
Cedars tracker we had to meet daily M-F.In this mix of appointments we still had a once a month probation
meeting.In the second month, we were
still meeting with the Cedars tracker at least 2 to 3 times a week.We were asked by the judge to go visit Bryan Behavioral
School for a possible
placement.All of these visits needed to
be managed while my daughter was feeling ill and while I am still trying to
hold down a full time job to provide for my two daughters and me.I used a lot of sick leave to take my
daughter to her appointments.I cannot
tell you the amount of stress placed on both of us and how horrific the stress
is for a single mother worrying about her ill child.The system took precious time away from me
caring more for my daughter because we were required to comply with court
ordered appointments.We were threatened
if we did not comply with court orders of attendance and appointments they
would place Hannah out of the home.

Our physician, who treated my
daughter for her diagnosis, wrote a letter to the court in August 2016 about
her rare disease and even then the judge did not drop the case.

From January 2016 to January
2017, we had 4 court hearings, were seen in the emergency room for 8 visits, 60
physician related appointments, tests, and I used over 78 hours of sick leave
from work as well as self-employment work missed opportunities during the
summer due to appointments as noted above.

I was not aware of the
amended truancy law that was in place until recently, nor was I informed that
there was an amended law during these entire proceedings by anyone at school,
the public defender, county attorney, nor judge.At present, my daughter is still on probation
and will remain so until March, 2017.

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The Personal Impact of Nebraska's School Attendance Law

We began collecting stories in April of 2011 and will continue to collect them as long as the law is abused. The stories we have collected demonstrate how our community has been impacted by Nebraska's school attendance law that counts all absences rather than "unexcused" absences for purposed of "truancy".

It may seem by the district by district breakdown that the law has impacted Millard Public Schools the most, but it is important to note that the Nebraska Family Forum grew out of the Millard Parent Society and therefore the awareness within Millard Public Schools is longstanding.

Out of the 3000+ cases referred to the Douglas County Attorney last year only 400 came from MPS. For every story collected here it is reasonable to assume that they represent dozens more who are affected who have not written their thoughts in a public way.

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Nebraska Family Forum: What we Stand For

Mission:

It is the Mission of the Nebraska Family Forum (NFF) to promote education policies in our state that preserve and protect parental authority and the integrity of the family. In so doing, we will preserve the cooperative and respectful relationship between school authorities and parents, preserve a family-centered community, and provide a well-rounded education for our kids.

NFF Guiding Principles:

Family is Key: We believe the family is the single most important element to a child’s ability to learn and be successful in school and life, and parents are the foundation upon which family success rests. For this reason, it’s imperative that the state honor the authority of parents as they exercise their natural rights, obligations, and responsibilities to raise, manage, direct, and educate their children.

Freedom in Education is essential: We believe that flexibility in education, school choice, stimulating curriculum, quality teachers, and innovative education reforms are essential to a family centered education. We support policies that will lead to greater parental influence in education innovation, curriculum, and choice.

Family struggles are a healthy part of life: We believe that the fundamental right of a parent does not cease to exist simply because a parent may fail to be a model parent. Parents often struggle to meet the needs of their children, but this is not in itself sufficient cause for unwanted and unwarranted government intrusion into family life. We join with Father Steven Boes of Boys Town in "proclaiming that not only are there no bad boys, as Father Flanagan taught, but there are no bad families.” There is always at least one person in a family that wants what is best for their children and is willing to ask for and receive the help they need.

Government Intrusion can be Harmful: We believe that the right of parents to raise their children without undue government interference is a fundamental liberty that has long been protected by the Constitution of the United States and is not void upon the enrollment of ones child in a public school. We warn that governments who seek to micro-manage the everyday choices of parents in pursuit prescribed outcomes, will do great harm to the integrity of the family and by extension, the well-being of children and society as a whole.

Mother… I think of all the lessons she has modeled for me throughout my life in topics from boys to academia to love in and of family to the meaning of true success… now I heed her lessons in balancing my life, work and passions. All the while, she is my teacher, one with the honored and sacred name of Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My mother.

The Simple Truths

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. ~ Ernest Dimnet

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~ B. F. Skinner

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~ G. M. Trevelyan

Every educated person is a future enemy. ~ Martin Bormann

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. ~ Michel de Montaigne

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. ~ Mark Twain

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~ John W. Gardner

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding. ~ Ezra Pound

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~ Robert M. Hutchins

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. ~ Albert Einstein

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~ A. A. Milne

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~ Albert Einstein

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~aya Angelou

Dad kept us out of school, but school comes and goes. Family is forever.

I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids. ~ Dolly Parton

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters. ~George Herbert

Dad kept us out of school, but school comes and goes. Family is forever.

"The amount of freedom to which a person is entitled is strictly measured by the amount of freedom he is willing to allow his fellow man." ~ Verlan Andersen

"You complain of bad city government. It is ultimately the fault of the people themselves if it is bad... In no way can you bring about decency in your Government so quickly as by backing up the men (and women) who represent your interests, rewarding those who are faithful and punishing those who fail in their duty." ~ Theodore Roosevelt